Garden Meditation Day

3rd May each year

Garden Meditation Day provides the perfect opportunity to achieve inner peace while honoring the essential ties between people and the environment. Garden and wild plants play a huge role in sustaining life on Earth; they produce food, they make oxygen, they preserve the soil and they beautify the planet. It’s no wonder that mankind has a natural connection to plant life. Garden meditation has been practiced for thousands of years because the natural elements in a garden create a soothing, peaceful environment for retreat, and they enable the necessary focus to bring about calm and stress relief.

Participation in Garden Meditation Day can include sitting with quiet awareness in your garden or nearby park, or weeding, watering or planting in a focused, relaxed manner. Practiced with or without movement, meditation can quiet the mind and invite inner harmony, and gardening can make the world more lush, beautiful and livable.

Paranormal Day

3rd May each year

Paranormal Day is a day for all those who believe in paranormal activity to share experiences all around the world. At the very least, it’s a great excuse to catch up with friends and watch a scary movie!

Star Wars Day

4th May each year

May 4th has become commonly known as Star Wars Day. And who could be surprised? The words, “May the 4th” seem to beg the rest of the catchphrase be uttered. Regardless of whether you prefer Star Wars or Star Trek, or if are even a sci-fi aficionado at all, the influence of George Lucas’ Star Wars on pop culture is undeniable.

The History of Star Wars Day

Star Wars, an epic space opera written and directed by George Lucas, premiered in 1977 and became an almost instant cult classic. Even today, almost 40 years later, Star Wars remains one of the most financially successful films of all time. The franchise it began remains the most successful one of all time, earning over 2.5 billion dollars since the release of the first film. However, the money it’s earned over the years is hardly the most impressive aspect of Star Wars. As famous film critic Roger Ebert put it: “Like The Birth of a Nation and Citizen Kane, Star Wars was a technical watershed that influenced many of the movies that came after.”

Star Wars was a real game-changer, beginning a new era of special effect-packed motion pictures bursting with excitement, adventure and imagination that appealed enormously to younger audiences as well as older ones. Many of today’s most acclaimed film directors, such as Peter Jackson, Ridley Scott, Christopher Nolan and James Cameron, cite Star Wars as a great influence on their careers. Star Wars has also had enormous cultural impact on other areas besides filmmaking, including politics–the Reagan Administration’s Startegic Defense Program was mockingly nicknamed “Star Wars”. As recently as 2013, President Barack Obama used the phrase “Jedi miind meld” to describe what some people were expecting him to do on his opposition to make them accept his ideas.

“May the Fourth be with you” was first used by Margaret Thatcher’s political party to congratulate her on her election on May 4th, 1979, and the saying quickly caught on. However, the first celebration of May 4th took place much later, at the Toronto Underground Cinema in 2001. This first official Star Wars Day’s festivities included a costume contest and a movie marathon. Fans’ favorite parodies of the franchise were also enjoyed, as were some of the most popular mash-ups and remixes. Since then, Star Wars Day has gained popularity and is celebrated by Star Wars Fans worldwide.

How to Celebrate Star Wars Day

The way you celebrate Star Wars day will depend on how well you know this cultural phenomenon. If you are a longtime fan of the franchise, you might want to get a group of friends together and attend one of the many Star Wars events organized in different parts of the world. Such events range from costume contests to museum exhibits to tours of space centers. And if you’re not feeling up to going out, there’s no reason why a Star Wars Day party organized by you at home should be any less fun. Movie marathons with friends, Star Wars trivia games and even Star Wars themed snacks (Death Star piñata, anyone?) will guarantee this day is full of fun as well as being very educational. “Vadering” another person has also become an extremely popular thing to do on this day, and the photos you take of this are sure to bring a smile to your face for years to come. Because Star Wars itself is such an enormous topic, the ways of celebrating the day dedicated to it are virtually endless. So choose one, have fun, and May the 4th be with you!

No Pants Day

The First Friday of May

6th May, 2016

Home may be where the heart is, the people you love and the fuzzy little family members on their four legs. But we often forget to discuss the things that define home by their absence. The first thing on that list? Pants. There is a feeling that one gets from stumbling through the door at the end of a hard work day and dropping their pants before they ever leave the foyer. The fresh air on your bare skin lets you know you’re home, and you’re comfortable. Such a great feeling is this that there’s even a holiday dedicated to it, and it should be no surprise that it’s called “No Pants Day”.

History of No Pants DayIf there’s anyone who understands the glory of an absence of pants, it’s college students. After a long day spent adulting in a world full of peers who have just about as much experience in it as they do, it’s no surprise that freedom’s flag is a lack of pants. Years ago in the lone-star state a band of college students formed a small on-campus club, and out of this think-tank of genius came the idea that a great way to celebrate the closing of the season of finals was to drop trouser and celebrate freedom in the most visibly demonstrable way.

While this had merely been intended to be a bit of a college prank to stir up things at the campus, it continued to be celebrated with every passing year until the idea had caught fire and in 2000 it took off across the world. So it was that families and friends all over the world banded together to free themselves from the tyranny of trousers! No Pants Day is now a popular and much celebrated day all over the world, viva la revolution!

How to celebrate No Pants DayWell, the celebration starts by choosing your no-pants option for this holiday! The options are broad, as there is only one rule, No Pants! This means that you could wear shorts, skirts, dresses, whatever leaves your legs free to enjoy the feeling of wind on them. If you’re feeling truly daring, you may choose your most sporting pair of undergarment and head out into the world sporting a fine pair of pins! No Pants Day is a fantastic holiday that reminds us that true freedom requires but one thing, legs unfettered from the shackles of denim, polyester, or any other fabric that would hold them prisoner!

Free Comic Book Day

The First Saturday of May

7th May, 2016

Comics have had a long and storied history, going back far further than most people truly realize. There are evidence of sequential art and single panel art almost as long as there has been sketches. They have been used to tell stories most fantastic, to share political ideas and agendas, and certainly to make a mockery of political figures in every age. From your Saturday morning comics to lavish pieces of erotic fiction, there isn’t a single topic that hasn’t been touched on by the comic artists pen. Lovers of animation have this art form to thank for the original animated films, as each frame of the film was hand drawn by dedicated artists. Free Comic Book Day puts these amazing works of art and literature into the hands of even those that can’t afford them!

History of Free Comic Book DayFree Comic Book day was established by Joe Field in 2001. While writing for a magazine of the comic industry, he noted that there had been an upsurgence in purchases in the wake of the recent flow of comic book franchise movies. Society and finances were both looking favorably on this unending wealth of stories, and so it was that he suggested the institution of a Free Comic Book Day to spread the fandom as wide as possible. The first Free Comic Book Day was held on the opening of the 2002 Spider-Man film, hoping to ride on the wave of promotion and all the hub-bub going on about it in the news and other media sources.While not every year sees Free Comic Book Day coming into line with the release of another feature-film, it often happens as a matter of providence. While the comics do cost the retailers a small amount each, they are routinely given away to all comers to help drive interest in the comic book hobby.

How to Celebrate Free Comic Book DayWhile Free Comic Book Day is certainly an opportunity to try a new comic from your local comic retailer, it’s also your opportunity to support the industry by making a purchase. Most everyone knows of the mainstream comic retailers DC and Marvel, but there are hundreds of publishers both corporate and independent who produce amazing comics on every topic you can image. Free Comic Book Day is your opportunity to expand your mind and your knowledge of this amazing hobby and source of stories.